BOGEY MAN LANDS
NBA champion’s arrival with the Kings to put national spotlight on Cairns
CAIRNS – the Andrew Bogut show is finally in town.
As is becoming the norm with the NBA champion, when the Sydney Kings centre rolls into a city, the eyes of the Australian basketball world turn there.
Ahead of his clash with the Cairns Taipans tonight, the 34-year-old says increasing interest in the sport of basketball was one of his driving forces behind retiring from his career in the US.
“It is not just that the interest is around me but basketball is being talked about,” Bogut said.
“The more people are talking about basketball, and the NBL specifically, it is a win.
“The fan numbers at games have increased dramatically again and people that just follow the NBA are starting to talk about the NBL as well.”
The top overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft is vocal on social media, to put it lightly, and often points out the sacrifices made by his former Golden State Warriors teammates that yielded him one, but them, three NBA championships.
Bogut joined a talented but underperforming Kings outfit in the off-season and will recall stories of Stephen Curry and Draymond Green to his new Sydney teammates about how they need to act, for the greater goal, and not for personal statistics and highlights. “Everyone’s stats need to go down for the greater good of the team,” Bogut said.
“The boys are probably sick of hearing my NBA stories (laughs), I probably talk about it too much.
“I was a part of one of the most successful teams of all time and I have seen the day-in day-out professionalism and what it takes to be that team, it is not easy.
“It is a big role for me off the floor with this team.”
AS A raw, emerging basketballer from Bamaga embarking on a career in the NBA, there was only one Australian in the big league in the States that Nate Jawai could turn to for advice.
These days, Aussies being influential in the NBA is more common, with Joe Ingles, Patty Mills, Mareeba’s Aron Baynes and Ben Simmons, among others, all regular contributors, as well as being stars on their teams.
When the Cairns Taipans centre was drafted 41st overall in the 2008 NBA draft by the Indiana Pacers, there was only one Australian established in the biggest league in the world – Andrew Bogut.
Patty Mills and David Andersen soon followed, but Bogut, the first overall pick in the 2005 draft, had laid his foundations in the game and was a sounding board for Jawai about the pitfalls of life on the world stage.
The pair meet for the first time on Jawai’s home turf tonight, with the 32-year-old keen to renew acquaintances with his one-time mentor and now Sydney King.
As Jawai’s NBA career stalled in his first season, after being traded to Toronto (a routine physical showed he had an enlarged heart) Bogut was there to offer guidance.
“I was injured in my first year and he said keep it together, keep your head together because it is going to be a long journey,” Jawai said.
“He got hurt with his elbow when I was over there so we were both going through stuff.
“He understood what I was going through, I had his support.
“He let me know what the league was like.
“Even before I went to the NBA, I was in Boomers camp with him and he told me all about what the league was like.”
The pair of huge physical presences will dominate the paint in the Far North tonight but during their three years that crossed over in the NBA, they only met once on the court.
The two Boomers veterans came head-to-head in 2009 when they were playing in the world’s best basketball competition.
Led by a team-high 17 points and 10 rebounds from Bogut, the Milwaukee Bucks claimed a comfortable 87-72 win over Jawai’s Minnesota Timberwolves.
Jawai and Bogut battled in Sydney earlier this season and arguably the biggest signing in NBL history is keen to go again in Cairns tonight.
“Nate has had his ups and downs with injury but I know he is happy here in Cairns, being close to home,” Bogut said.
“It is always a battle, I do not look forward to it because I am always hurting after the game when I face him.”
Taipans coach Mike Kelly said, like his assistant Jamie O’Loughlin did last week, the club was in no rush to sign an injury replacement for the sidelined Dexter KernichDrew.